Wednesday, January 2, 2008

The Body


I took this image of leaves in the street and manipu-lated it. This is what came to me. We see the bright and flashy "real" colors of that which is corporeal here on the earth...but we long for the Spiritual realm...we can see the Light and the promise of it..and catch glimpses of it. We try to reach into it and grab hold, but sometimes the "real" world keeps snatching us back. The Body is really that Spirit working within our fleshly selves...that glimpse into joy and happiness that is the true, REAL realm.

I can't decide if I want it positioned this way or flip it lengthwise so the lighter part is top. I started this way because if the lighter part is up, then that makes the Spiritual realm "up there" and although I like that look....this way shows that the Spiritual realm and "our" realm coincide and interact. What do you think?

7 comments:

Missy said...

I love that you can catch such a small image and manipulate it so we can see what you see with your artist's eye!

What caught my attention in the bright flash in the middle of the light and dark side. It seems to be the only object without the appearance of motion. Hmmm...

karen said...

Thanks, Missy....I'm seriously not the author of these...just the messenger!

I take a picture that I feel led to take, then play with it till the "aha" moment.

Pat said...

Leave it--the spiritual realm is within us not up there somewhere. This is fantastic work, Karen, a true gift from the God of truth.

karen said...

Thanks, Pat! That's what I thought, too....
He's working with and through me. I hope He's not frustrated with me!!

... Paige said...

Beautiful. Here's my 2 cents. This way looks as if the colors are floating down if you were to flip it may resemeble them floating up.

Oh I love the church murals. What a ton of work.
Great news about sleeping all night. My beloved has always had a hard time with that.

Michael Ogden said...

I like it the way it is!

It reminded me immediately of a C.S. Lewis book (That Hideous Strength?) in which characters could see vague glimmers of angelic type beings, but only with peripheral vision and if they weren't trying too hard.

For the 25 years since reading that I have always suspected the universe is more sacramental than we allow ourselves to imagine.

karen said...

Paige, I see what you're saying. After much thought, I decided to keep it the way it is, because I had a vision like this when talking to a friend...then I took the picture, and after manipulating it...this is darn near what my vision was! I think I've learned that the Spiritual isn't "up" there...it's another realm right here with us and we are all trying to connect with it as much as we can in this realm.
Mike, thanks!!...you're right, and you see the glimmers of the spiritual in the art. Awesome!